The Plot. The movie tells a story about a couple on a long-distance relationship. Garrett (Justin Long) meets Erin (Drew Barrymore) at a bar and they hit it off right away. At some point Erin tells Garrett that she is just an intern at a New York newspaper and will return to San Fransisco in 6 weeks. Both agree that this could be a nice no-strings-attached relationship, but as always, one thing leads to another and 6 weeks later, when Erin leaves New York, they decide that they will try a long-distance relationship.
General thoughts. I am a sucker for a good romantic comedy and this is one of the best I've seen in a while. The movie is about showing all the ups and downs, all the temptations and perils of a long-distance relationship. There are many kinds of long-distance relationships, where the difference could be a few hundred miles to a few thousand miles. This movie is about the extreme case, where Erin is in San Fransisco and Garrett is in New York, which means that the distance couldn't be much larger within the compounds of the US borders. This movie made me want to have a long-distance relationship but at the same time not want it. I'm really confused on this one.
This movie also had a lot of funny moments. As a pleasant surprise, Jim Gaffigan played the brother-in-law of Erin. Gaffigan is a really strange and at the same time an extremely funny comedian that I saw in a Comedy Central special some years ago. While Justin Long isn't the funniest person imaginable, he is really good for the part of Garrett for that exact reason and the same goes for Drew Barrymore. It's a common thing for romantic comedies that the two main characters are more of the serious type, whereas the supporting characters make it all funny.
I would consider this to be an excellent date movie. The main characters aren't anything too special, so watching this wouldn't probably set any expectations on the couple watching this. There are a lot of "aww" moments, but also a lot of educational value, when it comes to the dynamics of not just the long-distance relationship, but any kind of relationship.
It gains some points for not being totally predictable. I know that it's really hard to come up with a plot that wouldn't be predictable, but would have a happy ending anyway.
So yes, I recommend this to anyone who, like me, is a sucker for a proper romantic comedy or someone on a date wanting to watch something. I know watching romantic comedies on dates is always a risk, but this one should be relatively safe.
An excellent movie.
8/10 Flogs
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